fence?

what determines which side of the fence you're on?
growing up, almost everybody i knew was poor and i was on the lower end.
i wore hand me down clothes and we raised most of what we ate...only had meat on Sunday and it was usually chicken.
i didn't taste steak until i was in high school.
since most of the kids near me came up the same way, why do some go left and others go right?
i don't want anything from the government but national defense.
i take care of family first and then the less fortunate.
we were raised to refuse charity and to work harder to get it ourselves or do without.
most others were the same way.
i remember my mother sneaking onto someone's porch to give them something so they couldn't refuse it.
a few want all they can get from their neighbors.
what causes this?
is it the way we were trained or is it some people just give up and take the easy road?